Most consumer AI so far has been single-player: you and a chatbot, alone.
Benchmark partner Sarah Tavel, one of Pinterest's first 30 employees, is betting that's about to change. She's looking for a product genius who can build an AI product with social DNA: status, network effects, and multiplayer dynamics. That'll enable users of ChatGPT and other models to learn from how others use AI and level up.
On this week’s AI & I, Dan Shipper revisits his conversation with Sarah. They talk about why technical founders dominate the early days of a platform shift while product-minded founders win later, what ChatGPT is still missing, and what separates a founder's real network effect from a slide with a flywheel diagram.
If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share!
To hear more from Dan Shipper:
Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper
Timestamps for YouTube:
0:00 Start
1:10 Introduction
2:26 Why the future of consumer AI belongs to founders with product intuition
11:09 What Sarah sees as ChatGPT's biggest weakness
18:45 How Sarah would design a consumer AI app with social DNA
24:10 The kind of founders Sarah invests in
28:33 How to know if your startup's network effects are real
35:40 What's catching Sarah's eye beyond AI
40:41 How AI will change the way top venture capitalists invest
Links to resources mentioned in the episode:
Sarah Tavel on X: https://x.com/sarahtavel
Benchmark: https://benchmark.com
Agentio (marketplace for YouTube creators and brands): https://agentio.com/
Chainalysis: https://chainalysis.com
The Five Temptations of a CEO by Patrick Lencioni: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007BZBRB8
Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0HBBW23PM
Read more
